Kielohawk Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 Hey all! I recently received a 1975 XS500B from my Dad. It's in really good shape with new tires, chain, paint job, replaced fuel tank, plugs, oil, seat, grips, and mirrors and it's my first motorcycle. I do have some questions because I have not wanted to fork out $60 for a owner's manual from Ebay. I hope you guys can help me out. The bike runs pretty good and just seems a little cold-blooded. I have treated the fuel with some "Sea foam" because he didn't drive it after he had the engine worked on. Here are my questions: 1. Is the choke off or on when the lever is down? It seems to be Choke "ON" when in the down position. 2. What is the little adjustable screw for on the bottom side of the throttle handle? 3. Do you check the engine oil on the side stand or the maintenance stand? 4. Where is the oil filter located? 5. Does the large adjustable screw on the right carberator effect only idle speed? 6. I think the gas tank is just under 4 Gallons. 3.96? When should reserve be kicked in? 1 Gallon left? 7. I found it odd to see 2 fuel petcocks on the tank. What is the deal with that? I just make sure they are both in the same position. The gas tank isn't a split tank is it? 8. Does anyone know where I can get a seat with stock hinges? THe seat I have on it is kinda rigged to the bike attached to the rear shock mounts. The key lock is not being used at the moment and I would like to be able to raise the seat normally to get access to the battery and such. Thanks! Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhendryx Posted August 2, 2007 Share Posted August 2, 2007 1. Is the choke off or on when the lever is down? It seems to be Choke "ON" when in the down position. 2. What is the little adjustable screw for on the bottom side of the throttle handle? 3. Do you check the engine oil on the side stand or the maintenance stand? 4. Where is the oil filter located? 5. Does the large adjustable screw on the right carberator effect only idle speed? 6. I think the gas tank is just under 4 Gallons. 3.96? When should reserve be kicked in? 1 Gallon left? 7. I found it odd to see 2 fuel petcocks on the tank. What is the deal with that? I just make sure they are both in the same position. The gas tank isn't a split tank is it? 8. Does anyone know where I can get a seat with stock hinges? THe seat I have on it is kinda rigged to the bike attached to the rear shock mounts. The key lock is not being used at the moment and I would like to be able to raise the seat normally to get access to the battery and such. hey there, i just bought this exact same bike. heres what i can do..... 1. choke is on when all the way down. 2. i will go take a look. 3. i always check engine oil with it up on the maintenance stand 4. its somewhere under the alternator cover (i will know more in a week or so when i have a chance to tear into it). 5. yes, thats the idle screw. 6. unsure of fuel capacity. i will be getting the FSM in a week or so, and can tell you then 7. i thought that was pretty odd too.... rather than having it split from one petcock to two hoses, they made two individual hoses. i would assume that if one is shut off, that carburetor will not receive fuel. 8. here are some sites that i have found to be pretty handy. http://www.laverda1000.de/xsfaqe.htm -- this guy has one of the only devoted xs500 sites that i have found. http://www.oldbikebarn.com/motorcycles/index.php?bike=XS500 that site is a good place to find spare parts... i think you can find your seat pieces you need there. hope that helped. jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kielohawk Posted August 2, 2007 Author Share Posted August 2, 2007 hey there, i just bought this exact same bike. heres what i can do..... 1. choke is on when all the way down. 2. i will go take a look. 3. i always check engine oil with it up on the maintenance stand 4. its somewhere under the alternator cover (i will know more in a week or so when i have a chance to tear into it). 5. yes, thats the idle screw. 6. unsure of fuel capacity. i will be getting the FSM in a week or so, and can tell you then 7. i thought that was pretty odd too.... rather than having it split from one petcock to two hoses, they made two individual hoses. i would assume that if one is shut off, that carburetor will not receive fuel. 8. here are some sites that i have found to be pretty handy. http://www.laverda1000.de/xsfaqe.htm -- this guy has one of the only devoted xs500 sites that i have found. http://www.oldbikebarn.com/motorcycles/index.php?bike=XS500 that site is a good place to find spare parts... i think you can find your seat pieces you need there. hope that helped. jeff Thanks for replying! I have had the bike for a few weeks now riding it everyday to work. I also have visited just about every website dealing with this model and a few others. I bought a Chlymer manual as well. It answered a few of my questions. 1. Agree, choke is on when lever is down. (Chlymer manual has absolutely nothing in it dealing with Choke- Wierd) 2. Still don't know what this adjustable screw does. It does not seem to do anything. It does make a good anchor for a throttle friction lever (hillbilly Cruise Control) hehe 3. Engine oil checked on maintenance center stand level and not threading the dipstick in to check it. 4. Oil filters are unavailable new, but there are some on Ebay. I am hesitant on buying them because I heard that some are slightly taller and will not fit under the Chain drive gear cover. 5. Fuel capacity is a hair under 4 US Gal. Something like 3.96 Gallons. You have to go to reserve when there is 1 Gallon left. I am presently getting around 42 to 45 MPG. 6. Still not sure why 2 Petcocks. Unless it has something to do with constant fuel flow while leaning the bike either way. (although there would only be 1 carb getting the gas due to no Y tube in place to feed both carbs from either petcock.) 7. I have seen a few seats going on Ebay. There was one that looked like exactly what I needed but it went for about $120. I wasn't online when the auction ended. I really appreciate you replying to these questions. I was starting to lose hope on someone posting! Maybe I can get some pictures and post them here. Is your bike in good condition? I am worried about trying to find either a new exhaust or replacement slip-on mufflers. My header piples are in good shape but I think the right muffler is starting to go. I can hear stuff rattling around inside it. I also have a small oil leak coming from the left front side of the engine around the gasket that is just under the exhaust ports. I have put some 20W50 in it on my last oil change with some oil stop leak. Doesn't seem to work and I don't want to tear the engine down. I am hesitant because of having to deal with the cam chain. Also I have heard that you have to check the Cam Chain tensioner and some kind of balancer often. I think the balancer is on the right side of the engine. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhendryx Posted August 3, 2007 Share Posted August 3, 2007 I really appreciate you replying to these questions. I was starting to lose hope on someone posting! Maybe I can get some pictures and post them here. Is your bike in good condition? I am worried about trying to find either a new exhaust or replacement slip-on mufflers. My header piples are in good shape but I think the right muffler is starting to go. I can hear stuff rattling around inside it. I also have a small oil leak coming from the left front side of the engine around the gasket that is just under the exhaust ports. I have put some 20W50 in it on my last oil change with some oil stop leak. Doesn't seem to work and I don't want to tear the engine down. I am hesitant because of having to deal with the cam chain. Also I have heard that you have to check the Cam Chain tensioner and some kind of balancer often. I think the balancer is on the right side of the engine. Dan my bike is in decent condition, though today i cracked the left side rear cover (over battery) and snapped the knob off of the clutch lever when i knocked it over in my storage unit. here is a picture of mine. it has about 8k miles on it i think..... the odometer is wrong, by quite a bit, it reads just over 2k, and didnt have one until about a year ago. as you can see, it has a custom paint job (that im probably going to change in the near future), and cut down pipes. Its my first bike, and im using it as a learning tool mostly, but i really like it already. for what its worth, i bought a brand new one of these from a yamaha dealer.... you might be interested in this one. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yamaha-xs50...sspagenameZWDVW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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